Dragon Blood 2: Wyvern Read Free Page A

got home she’d tell him to leave. Without talking, she turned into a hawk and flew towards the balcony of her second storey room. If she hurried, she could make it back home before Kade knew she was gone.
    She could see her balcony only metres away when a bellow echoed in her mind.
“Amber! Where are you?”
    She sighed as she landed on her balcony and turned human. Rian dropped down beside her, changing in mid air from a large blue dragon, with bronze and silver flecked wings, to a human. The balcony door swung open before she could answer.
    Kade filled the doorway, his hands holding the doors open, his expression fierce. “Where were you? And who’s that?”
    Amber met Kade’s golden brown eyes, the same colour as the sun-streaked strands of his brown hair. “He’s one of Ronan’s sons.”
    Kade’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you attack us last month?”
    Rian nodded.
    “Then what are you doing here? What’s Ronan up to?”
    Amber pressed her hand against Kade’s chest, pushing her way into the room. “It’s too cold to stand out on the balcony all night.” She heard Rian follow her in and close the door. Her gaze never left Kade’s. What should she tell him? And how should she? He was going to be livid.
    “Just get it over with. If Ronan’s involved I doubt I’m going to like a single word you have to say. And why is he still hanging around?” Kade gestured towards Rian who took up a post in the corner closest to the French doors.
    Amber strode towards her bed, discarding her jacket along the way to reveal a black, dragon-leather vest. “Apparently I need an extra bodyguard.” She decided to avoid mentioning Rian was also meant to train her to fight. And from what Ronan had said, Rian was to be the practice dummy.
    “Why do you need an extra guard?” Kade’s voice held more than a hint of impatience.
    “What would my weight in gold be worth in real dollars?”
    Kade frowned. “What?”
    “Between two and three million depending on your exact weight and the current dollar value of gold.”
    Amber dropped onto her bed at Rian’s words. “Two million?” She closed her eyes a moment then met Rian’s pale blue eyes that were unnervingly like his father’s. “Dollars?”
    Rian nodded. “If you give me your weight I can find an exact figure for you. But the market value does fluctuate.”
    Amber shook her head, words beyond her. She lay back on her bed and stared at the pattern her bedside lamp made on the ceiling.
    Kade sat beside her. “What have you done now?” The impatience was replaced by weariness.
    “I didn’t do anything. Apparently someone thinks my death is worth my weight in gold.”
    “Since when?” Kade grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up to face him. “What were you doing running around town at this hour if you have assassins after you? Are you insane?”
    “Obviously. I talk with dragons, think I can turn into a panther or hawk at will and throw balls of fire from my hands. No one sane does that.” She avoided mentioning her ability to heal since Rian was standing in the corner and Ronan still didn’t know she could do that.
    “Tell me everything. From the start. And you better not leave anything out.”
    Amber sighed and recounted her day, warily watching as Kade tried to control his anger when she mentioned meeting Ronan after she’d been told of the assassins. “What I can’t understand is why anyone would be willing to pay two million dollars for my death. Or even why I’d be first on their list.”
    “The only difference I can see between you, Jay and Crystal is you spend time with Ronan.” Kade turned towards Rian. “What do you know about it?”
    “More now than I did earlier.”
    “Your father’s such a bastard,” Amber said to Rian.
    Rian nodded, not seeming to be the least offended.
    “Then why do you help him?” Amber frowned. “I’d be miles in the opposite direction from him if I was you.”
    “He’d rip my heart out.”
    Amber was